Reconstructing enhanced resolution images from spaceborne microwave sensors

Low resolution has limited the land applications of space-borne microwave remote sensors, particularly radiometers. To overcome this limitation, the authors apply two image enhancement algorithms to radiometer data for land and ice studies: a modified version of the scatterometer image reconstruction algorithm and the Backus and Gilbert inversion technique. The authors compare these methods´ effectiveness over land and ice areas by imaging radiometric data from the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) and the Seasat-A Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) as well as the Seasat-A (SASS) and the ERS-1 scatterometer. The image resolution depends on the footprint shape in addition to the footprint size. Inverse filtering improves image quality by compensating for the microwave sensor´s intrinsic low pass filtering. Methods are described for developing the inverse filter